Tuesday's snooker round-up

Ronnie O'Sullivan overcame a battling performance from Jamie Burnett to book a second-round clash against John Higgins at the Grand Prix in Glasgow with a 5-3 win.

O'Sullivan was 1-0 and 2-1 up, taking frame three with a superb 126 break, but twice Burnett came back and the pair went into the mid-session interval level.

The Englishman then took a scrappy fifth frame and clinched the sixth with a break of 51 to establish a two-frame lead for the first time.

Again Burnett fought back, but a run of 71 in frame eight handed the match to O'Sullivan, who next faces Higgins, a 5-1 winner against Mark Joyce on Saturday, following today's random draw.

Mark Williams had an easier afternoon, strolling past Stuart Bingham 5-0.

The first two frames followed similar patterns as Bingham established leads of 56 and 55 before Williams hit back with breaks of 71 and 74 respectively.

And Bingham barely got a look-in in the last three frames, allowing the Welshman to claim victory in an hour and 17 minutes.
Williams will next take on Stephen Hendry.

The 40-year-old Scot came through his first-round test at the Grand Prix in Glasgow, firing in a 116 break and runs of 58, 72 and 47 in his 5-2 victory over England's Matthew Selt.

Hendry looked to be recovering his best form at the World Championship in April, only to lose his focus after a maximum 147 break in his quarter-final against eventual runner-up Shaun Murphy.

He then suffered a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Ricky Walden in round two of the Shanghai Masters last month, but seven-time world champion Hendry is quietly optimistic he can improve on his current 10th position in the world rankings.

Discussing the win over Selt at the Kelvin Hall, Hendry said: 'I was pretty comfortable.

'I played one or two bad shots. My concentration was very good, and I just stayed focused. The job in the first round is to win the game - it's not about looking good or playing your best. There's plenty of time to do that.

'I am playing well in practice, and my goal for this season is to replicate that form where it matters. If I do that I can break back into the top eight.'

Hendry's fellow veteran Peter Ebdon joined him in the last 16, knocking out Shanghai Masters runner-up Liang Wenbo.

Liang had beaten 39-year-old Ebdon during his run in Shanghai, but the Englishman took his revenge - winning 5-2 despite dropping the first two frames.

After a match which featured just two 50-plus breaks - one for each player - Ebdon said: 'I expected to win today and would have been gutted if I hadn't.'

An unseeded draw for the last-16 matches takes place on Tuesday, while world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan also gets his campaign under way when he takes on Scotland's Jamie Burnett.

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen also reached the second round, beating England's Ian McCulloch 5-3.

Allen, 23, a semi-finalist at the Crucible earlier this year, made four breaks of over 50 and finished off with a run of 55.

World number three Shaun Murphy became the biggest casualty of the first round when he crashed out against Barry Pinches.

Norfolk potter Pinches, the world number 52, knocked out the former world champion 5-4.

'That's definitely my best win for a long time, especially under the TV lights,' Pinches said.

'I felt terrific during the last break and I'm really pleased that I held myself together.

'I'm surprised because my record in 5-4s is appalling, I doubt there's anyone who has lost more games 5-4 than me. I came from 4-1 down to beat Michael Holt in the qualifiers and that must be the first time in ten years I've won two deciders in a row.

'But the standard is so high in the qualifiers - I'd rather play a top eight player who is at 70% than someone at the bottom of the rankings playing 90%.'